WELLINGTON, Aug. 25 (Xinhua) -- Niue's Premier Young Vivian has said his country is ready to host the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) summit in 2007.

    According to Friday's Pacific Magazine, a regional news service, Vivian said he was confident he has the support of other leaders to host the summit, "although another country was interested in hosting the 2007 meeting."

    "The only other country in the Pacific that wanted it had been Tuvalu. I wrote to the former Prime Minister in Tuvalu, and he took it to his cabinet, and his cabinet agreed at that time, that Niue should be given a turn, and they'll wait for the next year," said Vivian.

    Tonga confirmed Wednesday it will not host this year's PIF meeting because of the deteriorating health of the island kingdom's monarch.

    Prime Minister Fred Sevele has asked the forum secretariat if Tonga could instead host the meeting in 2007.

    The PIF (known until Oct. 27, 2000 as the South Pacific Forum),a key political organization in the Pacific, brings at an annual meeting the 16 heads of government of the independent and self-governing states in the Pacific.

    Niue was to have hosted the Forum in 2004, but was hit by Cyclone Heta on New Year's Day of the same year which destroyed or damaged 95 percent of the islands infrastructure.

    The Forum was moved to Samoa in 2004.

    PIF secretariat is yet to announce the new venue of this year's annual summit of leaders, and Fiji is reportedly to have begun preparations to host the meeting, said local media Thursday. Enditem